Sir W. Jardine on the Habits of Prionites. 325 
used at times to sit in our portico, from whence it would dart 
down into the flower-garden, seizing the lizards indiscrimi- 
nately without regard to size ; when hungry I have seen them 
kill and attempt to swallow one ten inches long; I have often 
extracted the lizard in such instances when the tail protruded 
from four to six inches out of the bird’s mouth ; at other times, 
when it had succeeded as far as the hind legs, and the bird 
appeared in a state of suffocation. They feed also on soft 
fruits ; I took several large seeds from the stomach of one a 
few days since. ‘The two spatulate tail-feathers are entire at 
the first moult, but when or how they become spatulate, I am 
sure no one in Tobago knows. ‘The birds have always been 
reported to assist it with their bill, hence my anxiety to do- 
mesticate them for the purpose of ascertaining the fact ; but 
in this I have always failed, for the tail had no sooner ex- 
tended four or five inches than it was broken off by the cage 
or floor. One thing is certain, that at this season, viz. from 
October until May or June, we may search in vain for a spe- 
cimen without the spatulate tail, while betwixt June and Oc- 
tober they may be met with in abundance; this leads me to 
the conclusion that it is natural, and that they assume the 
spatulate appearance with the first moult and unassisted.” 
The specimens of the Tobago Motmot which we have re- 
ceived, vary in length from seventeen to fourteen and a half 
inches ; when compared with P. Brasiliensis, the blue colour 
encircling the crown covers less space on the occiput, the 
feathers are not so elongated, and the tint is pale or greenish 
at their base, and not of the deep and uniform cobalt of the 
Brazilian bird; the upper part of the plumage is nearly simi- 
lar in tint, but the whole of the lower parts and under wing- 
covers are of a deep and uniform brownish-orange, relieved 
only by the black elongated feathers, which appear through 
nearly the whole group in a similar situation. 
From the specimens in spirits* being rather soft and tend- 
ing to decay, the examination of the soft structures could not 
be made satisfactorily. The whole muscular system exhibited 
little strong development ; indeed the outward form of the bird 
(confirmed by our knowledge of its habits) shows no provi- 
* Insending home specimens in spirits care should be taken not to place 
too many in the same jar or barrel; a certain quantity of spirits will only 
preserve a certain portion of animal matter, and the desire to fill the vessel 
often proves destructive to the whole. It should also be noticed, that par- 
tial putridity or decay has not commenced; and if the vessel has remained 
for some time in a warm climate, it will tend much to the preservation of 
the specimens to renew the spirits before they are despatched, taking out at 
the same time any which may seem to be soft or not keeping. 
